Recently I took my mother to an appointment at a large Seattle hospital. We both had to go through the COVID-19 screening protocol. You know—Do you have a cough? A fever? Sore throat? Then the employee asked about fatigue. At that point I laughed and said, “Who isn’t tired these days?” Fortunately, the hospital worker had a sense of humor, too. This pandemic is starting to feel interminable.…
One thing this pandemic has brought to the forefront, at least for me, is how much we need each other. While we miss hugging our friends and gathering together, the virus has not taken away our ability to communicate in a variety of ways. In fact, we have more options for written and verbal communication than ever before, and for that I am grateful. I would like to…
When I put up my last blog post, Pray for Peace, it was during all the protests across the nation. Someone questioned what exactly I meant by praying for peace. Peace can be defined as calm or quiet. Was that what I meant? Not quite—I had something deeper and more enduring in mind. The truth is, what I really had in mind was the Hebrew concept of shalom.…
We are told to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Sadly, I think the streets of Jerusalem are quieter tonight than the streets of the great cities of our own nation. This is a confusing time. While some people are standing up against injustice, others are eager to take advantage of the unrest for their own purposes. It can be hard to tell who is doing what or…